Gun control legislation unlikely in wake of Colorado shooting

As the conversation surrounding the tragic shooting in Aurora, Colo., shifts toward a discussion on whether the event justifies action taken to expand gun control, it’s important to recognize how opinions on gun ownership have shifted in recent years.

Despite events such as the massacre at Columbine High School in 1999, the Beltway sniper spree in 2002, the shooting at Virginia Tech University in 2007 and the Fort Hood, Texas, shooting in 2009, support for gun control has steadily declined throughout the country, with Americans increasingly satisfied with the status quo of gun rights.

A Gallup poll[2] conducted in January found that 50% of people are at least somewhat satisfied by the state of America’s gun control laws, while 42% either very or somewhat dissatisfied. That marks a significant leap from 38% satisfied and 57% dissatisfied in 2001.

Of those dissatisfied, a significantly larger amount, 25% to 8%, want stricter controls to be enacted than not, but amid the rise of right-to-carry laws and the expiration of the assault weapons ban, gun rights advocates have little reason to be surly about the current state of affairs.